Ewan McGregor stars in this adaptation of Stendahl's classic novel. The handsome young Julien Sorel (McGregor) believes that he has a better chance of furthering his position in society if he chooses to enter the church (the black) rather than the army (the scarlet), and is found a position by his mentor Father Chélan as tutor to the children of the powerful Monsieur De Rénal. Julien finds favour with the children, rapidly becoming a beloved member of the household. However, when his relationship with Madame De Rénal (Alice Krige) goes beyond the professional, Julien's future is dramatically altered.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

When this serial was first shown on BBC TV I recorded it on video but, as my machine was on the blink at the time, the recording was not very good. A few years later I found that it had been released on an Acorn video but I was very disappointed to find that it had been abridged. I was therefore delighted when I saw that the series had become available on DVD but, alas, it was another big disappointment, as it was the same butchered version as the Acorn one. There is nothing to indicate that it is abridged and the cutting has been done very unsympathetically. Anyone not familiar with the full version would find some of it incomprehensible. It is a great pity that a good production has been spoiled. Visually it is beautiful, with lovely scenery and beautiful costumes. It has some first class actors and great music by Jean-Claude Petit, so it might be worth buying for these reasons - but thank goodness I still have my ropy old video!

As noted by another reviewer, the description of the DVD is incorrect in that this DVD is 204 minutes long. The original version was 240 minutes long. This version has been severely and badly cut down to 4 x 50 minute episodes. Very very disappointing especially since the description on Amazon -wrongly- shows the original runtime, not what is actually on this DVD.

No subtitles. Unfortunately, the write up does not state if it has them or not. I don't usually chance it if they are not mentioned but on this occasion made the mistake of assumuming that because it is a BBC production they would be there. No they are not. As I am deaf I have to have them.